President Vladimir Putin said on 14 August at a Kremlin meeting with
his Belarus counterpart Alyaksandr Lukashenka that "building a united
state is a tense process that will not move along without disputes and
difficulties," Russian news agencies reported. Hinting at Lukashenka's
adherence to a state-controlled economy, Putin also said that the two
countries should establish equal market conditions and ensure the
rights of both citizens and enterprises. Furthermore, Putin mentioned
that Russia and Belarus have already introduced unified tariffs on
railroad transportation and electricity, but that Belarus has failed to
take this step concerning Russian transit cargos. Finally, in line with
his earlier criticisms of Lukashenka's proposal to build the united
state on the basis of the experience of the Soviet Union (see "RFE/RL
Newsline," 14 June 2002), Putin remarked that the two countries will
build a "unique state that has no analogue in history." VY

President Putin signed a decree on 13 August laying out 16 general
principles for the conduct of civil servants, Russian news agencies
reported, citing the presidential press service. The declarative
document calls on civil servants to perform their official duties
professionally and "to carry out their activities within the bounds of
the competence of state bodies as defined by the law," ITAR-TASS
reported. It also advises state employees to maintain "political
neutrality," avoid conflicts of interest, and refrain from making
public comments unless that constitutes part of their official duties.
According to "Izvestiya," the decree is only the first step in a
broader reform of Russia's civil service, which will be followed by the
introduction of three new laws governing the behavior of bureaucrats in
the civil service, military, and law enforcement agencies. The laws are
being prepared by a special group on reform of the state administration
led by first deputy head of the presidential administration Dmitrii
Medvedev and will be introduced this fall. JAC

According to Medvedev, the group has not yet resolved the question of
how many bureaucrats Russia needs. In an interview with "Izvestiya"
last month, Medvedev promised the reforms will be "radical" and
eventually "will transform Russia's state administration system beyond
recognition" (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 19 July 2002). JAC

President Putin's special envoy on Kaliningrad, Dmitrii Rogozin, told
journalists after his visit to the region and his talks with Lithuanian
Prime Minister Algirdas Brazauskas on 11-13 August that he traveled to
Kaliningrad by car in order to better understand the exclave's
problems, ORT and other Russian news agencies reported on 14 August.
Rogozin also said that Russia may attempt to block Lithuania's entry
into the European Union by not ratifying a bilateral accord on border
delineation. Such a measure would make it impossible for Vilnius to
comply with a European Union requirement that members have no
outstanding border disputes. Rogozin added, however, that he hopes that
Lithuania will agree to a compromise that will allow Russians free
access to Kaliningrad. VY

Moscow and Seoul have reached an agreement to partially repay Soviet
debts to South Korea with supplies of Russian heavy military equipment,
"Izvestiya" reported on 14 August. The deal includes helicopters,
tanks, armored personnel carriers, and ships worth $1.95 billion.
Russia is also ready to transfer to South Korea advanced military
know-how and is already training Korean submarine-building specialists
in St. Petersburg. Seoul is interested in Russian weaponry in part
because rival North Korea's military is equipped with Russian hardware,
albeit obsolete. VY

Forecasters were predicting on 13 August that more storms could hit
Krasnodar Krai's flood-ravaged Black Sea Coast on 14-15 August, Russian
news agencies reported. The latest warning follows flash flooding on 9
August in the Novorossiisk area, which left at least 58 people dead
(see "RFE/RL Newsline," 12 August 2002). According to NTV on 13 August,
authorities are planning to drain all reservoirs around Novorossiisk.
Deputy Emergency Situations Minister Gennadii Korotkin told the station
that the reservoirs "are not performing any useful function" and "pose
a threat to the people living below [them]." The same day, another
deputy emergency situations minister, Yurii Brazhnikov, told a
conference in St. Petersburg that much of the death and destruction
caused by flooding in June and July (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 1 July
2001) could have been avoided, RIA-Novosti reported. According to
Brazhnikov, the existing system of warning the local population about
pending emergency situations is inadequate. JAC

On 12 August, presidential envoy to the Southern Federal District
Viktor Kazantsev held a meeting on the preliminary results of the
reconstruction efforts in his district, VolgaInform reported. Kazantsev
declared that many civil servants have not performed up to the level
required of them in the situation and that he intends to conduct a
cadre reshuffle in his own apparatus. He said he will hold a
competition to fill key posts in his office. JAC

Despite optimistic reports by the Economic Development and Trade
Ministry, real investment in the Russian economy is not increasing, but
declining, according to this month's data from the State Statistics
Committee, "Nezavisimaya gazeta" reported on 13 August. According to
the figures, total foreign investment in the first half of the year
increased by 25 percent over the same period in 2001, but 60 percent of
this sum (over $6 billion) comprises credits from foreign banks. At the
same time, capital investment -- the basic indictor of trust in the
national economy -- fell by slightly more than 25 percent to $1.87
billion. Portfolio foreign investment decreased by 16.7 percent to $199
million. VY

Pope John Paul II will beatify the founder of Russian Catholicism on 18
August, AFP reported on 12 August, citing the Vatican's press service.
According to the agency, Zygmunt Felinski served as an archbishop of
Warsaw for 16 months, after which he was exiled during the 1863 Polish
uprising against the tsar. The agency suggested that the pope's move
could further strain relations between the Vatican and the Russian
Orthodox Church, which has accused the former of proselytizing in
traditionally Orthodox territories. Felinski wrote a letter to
Aleksandr II in March 1863 insisting on the rights of the Catholic
Church and of Poles, for which he was exiled for 20 years, infonews.ru
reported, citing the Catholic Information Service. After his release,
Felinski was banned from entering Warsaw and spent his remaining years
in poverty in a Galician village. JAC

Vietnamese traders again gathered on 13 August to protest another
attempted seizure of their goods by Moscow police, Interfax reported.
About 200 traders gathered at the Salyut-3 market and blocked the
police from entering the market to seize clothing bearing the
trademarks of Adidas and Hugo Boss. According to polit.ru, police
officials say the goods are counterfeit. RTR reported the previous day
that an earlier clash between traders and police resulted in the
hospitalization of two police officers, according to the website. JAC

Interior shots of a lavish apartment owned by Sergei Antoshin, the
former head of security for Bryansk Governor Yurii Lodkin, have
appeared on an open-access website, regions.ru reported on 13 August.
The oblast's prosecutor launched an investigation on suspicion of
bribery last year against Antoshin, who is now deputy general director
of Bryanskkholod (see "RFE/RL Russian Federation Report," 9 May 2001).
According to regions.ru, an article about Antoshin's apartment appeared
earlier in a local publication, which estimated that the property must
have cost at least $200,000, while the renovations and furnishings were
estimated at another $63,000. The website reported that there are two
theories about how the "compromising" photographs suddenly appeared on
the Internet, and both involve the local office of the Federal Security
Service (FSB). According to the website, Lodkin declared at a press
conference last month that the controversy around Antoshin is
illustrative of mainly one thing: "The Federal Security Service is
against Lodkin." JAC

Kurtulus Taskent, who is the new Turkish ambassador to Russia, urged
the Russian authorities to grant citizenship to the estimated 21,000
Meskhetians who settled in Krasnodar Krai following clashes in the
Ferghana Valley in 1989, Interfax reported on 12 August. He said
refusal to do so constitutes a violation of Russia's citizenship
legislation of 1992 and 2002. Once they have received Russian
passports, Taskent continued, those Meskhetians who wish to do so
should be allowed to emigrate to Georgia or Turkey. Since the spring of
this year, the Krasnodar authorities have been exerting pressure on the
Meskhetians to leave the region (see "RFE/RL Newsline, 14 and 21 June
2002, and 3 and 11 July 2002). LF

Referring to a long-standing drive by some officials that ethnic Tatars
in Bashkortostan be officially registered as ethnic Bashkirs, Milli
Mejlis Marat Ramazanov said at the 10 August Congress of Tatar Public
Organizations that instead of "Bashkirizing" Tatars, Bashkortostan
President Murtaza Rakhimov should legalize polygamy so that Bashkirs
can "multiply," RFE/RL's Ufa correspondent reported on 12 August. The
Milli Mejlis is an alternative public body that declares itself a
"shadow government" of the Republic of Tatarstan. The controversy over
the status of the ethnic Tatars in Bashkortostan has intensified during
the run-up to the national census in October. JAC

Three people were killed on 13 August and eight injured in a series of
explosions in the Chechen town of Shali, southeast of Grozny, AP
reported. A spokesman for the Chechen Prosecutor-General's Office said
later the same day that the explosions might have been caused by
"negligence" on the part of the Russian military, according to
ITAR-TASS. Also on 13 August, three people were killed and eight
injured in Grozny when a passenger bus hit a landmine, Interfax
reported. LF

Speaking in Nalchik on 12 August, Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said
that three Chechen militants identified as having laid the landmine
that killed 10 Chechen servicemen in Shatoi on 6 August were killed in
a clash with Russian troops on the outskirts of Komsomolskoe during the
night of 9-10 August, Interfax reported. Russian armed forces Chief of
General Staff General Anatolii Kvashnin ordered an investigation into
the Shatoi incident last week (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 7 and 8 August
2002). On 13 August, Ivanov announced that the families of the 10 men
killed in Shatoi and of the eight Russian border guards killed late
last month in fighting in Itum-Kale Raion will receive compensation
payments of at least 100,000 rubles ($3,167), Interfax reported. LF

Doctors Without Borders has suspended its work in Daghestan and
Ingushetia following the 12 August kidnapping of one of its employees
in Makhachkala (see "RFE/RL Newsline" 13 August 2002), Russian news
agencies reported on 14 August. The organization had already stopped
work in Chechnya on 29 July after the head of a local nongovernmental
organization was kidnapped there, ntvru.com reported. According to that
report, the Interior Ministry is conducting an all-out search,
including the use of helicopters, to locate Dutch citizen Argan Erkal,
who is the head of the Doctors Without Borders mission in Daghestan.
The report also stated that Erkal's driver has been detained and is
being questioned as a suspect in the abduction. Ntvru.com also reported
that Erkal had received numerous threats in the past and had repeatedly
refused protection from local law enforcement. RC

Salman Raduev, who was sentenced in December 2001 to life imprisonment
for his role in the Pervomaiskoe mass hostage taking in January 1996,
has been transported to the maximum-security prison in Solikamsk, Perm
Oblast, where he is to serve out that sentence, Interfax reported on 13
August (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 28 December 2001). LF

The Communist Party of Armenia and the Socialist Armenia bloc have
initiated talks with other left-wing parties, including Hanrapetutiun,
the People's Party of Armenia, and Artashes Geghamian's National Accord
Party, on forming a bloc to contest next year's presidential and
parliamentary elections, Democratic Party of Armenia Chairman Aram
Sarkisian told journalists in Yerevan on 13 August, Noyan Tapan and
RFE/RL's Armenian Service reported. Sarkisian said the planned
left-wing bloc, which may soon name a shadow cabinet, does not plan to
compete with the existing broader alignment of 13 opposition parties.
"Haykakan zhamanak" on 14 August reported that some shadow cabinet
posts have already been allocated, and that Sarkisian has been named
shadow foreign minister. LF

The new consultative council that will advise the Armenian government
on religious matters will include representatives of the
Prosecutor-General's Office, as well as of the Armenian Apostolic
Church, the Catholic and Protestant churches, and of the government,
but not of the more than 40 nontraditional religious groups with a
presence in Armenia, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported on 13 August,
quoting a government press release. The new council replaces the
government department on religious affairs abolished earlier this year.
Its function is to "boost the effectiveness of Armenian state policy in
the sphere of religion," according to the prime minister's office. LF

Robert Kocharian and Heidar Aliev began talks on the Karabakh conflict
on 14 August in the village of Sadarak on the border between Armenia
and Nakhichevan, Turan reported. Aliev told journalists in the town of
Nakhichevan the previous day that he does not consider such talks
"useless," Turan and ITAR-TASS reported. But he added that the talks
became less substantive after the October 1999 Armenian parliament
shootings. Numerous Azerbaijani observers have predicted that the 14
August meeting will not yield substantive progress toward resolving the
Karabakh conflict. LF

Fifty-five states that are members of the Organization of the Islamic
Conference have signed a statement calling on Armenia to withdraw from
occupied Azerbaijani territories in compliance with a series of UN
resolutions, Turan reported on 13 August, citing the International
Islamic News Agency. The statement also urged Azerbaijan to refrain
from a new military confrontation with Armenia. LF

The exchange of fire between Georgian and Abkhaz troops in the Kodori
Gorge on 13 August ended after 40 minutes, Caucasus Press reported.
Neither side reported any casualties, and each side accused the other
of being the first to fire. The meeting planned for earlier that day
between Georgian and Abkhaz government delegations headed,
respectively, by Minister of State Avtandil Djorbenadze and Prime
Minister Anri Djergenia took place after the shooting subsided, but it
is not clear if any agreement was reached. The two men were to meet
again late on 14 August. Djorbenadze told a government meeting in
Tbilisi on 14 August that the Georgian side has demanded that Georgian
border guards be deployed at Marukhi Pass and that Abkhaz forces
withdraw from their current position some 15-20 kilometers inside the
Georgian-controlled sector of the Kodori Gorge, Caucasus Press
reported. He said Djergenia has asked for time to consider those
demands. The Abkhaz National Security Council is to meet on 14 August.
LF

Mehdi Safari, the Iranian Foreign Ministry official with special
responsibility for Caspian affairs, met in Astana on 12 August with
Kazakhstan's Foreign Minister Qasymzhomart Toqaev and Energy Minister
Vladimir Shkolnik to discuss regional developments, Kazakhstan's
possible involvement in the North-South transport project, and
bilateral cooperation in the oil-and-gas field, Interfax-Kazakhstan and
Caspian News Agency reported. The two men focused specifically on the
participation of Iranian companies in extracting hydrocarbons in
Kazakhstan and on the possibility of increasing the volume of
Kazakhstan's oil exports via Iran. They acknowledged, however, that
such an increase is contingent on the construction of a new pipeline
via Turkmenistan. LF

Addressing a district court in Bishkek on 13 August, Ishenbai
Kadyrbekov argued that his trial on charges of slander is
unconstitutional as parliament deputies are guaranteed immunity from
prosecution, akipress.org reported. Kadyrbekov pointed out that he has
already apologized for an unflattering remark he made in parliament
about residents of a hostel in Bishkek who brought the defamation suit
against him (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 6 August 2002). LF

Meeting on 12 August with senior defense and law enforcement officials,
Imomali Rakhmonov expressed discontent that directives he issued at an
earlier such meeting in late May (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 3 June 2002)
have not been fully implemented, Asia Plus-Blitz reported on 13 August.
Specific shortcomings were not mentioned. LF

The Uzbek government has sent five freight cars of building materials,
together with several tons of flour and sugar, to the inhabitants of
the Tajik village of Dasht, which was devastated by a mudslide last
week, uza.uz and Asia Plus-Blitz reported on 14 August (see "RFE/RL
Newsline," 7 August 2002). LF

The Belarusian authorities on 13 August halted retransmission of the
Russian radio stations Yunost and Mayak and cut back airtime of the
RTR, NTV, and Kultura television networks, Belarusian media reported.
The Belarusian State Television and Radio Company, which covers the
costs of transmitting Russian television and radio programs in Belarus,
said the previous day that the financial burden connected with these
retransmissions is much to bear. "The reasons given by the Belarusian
side hide the real causes behind the switch-off," Ekho Moskvy quoted
Gennadii Sklyar, general director of the Russian Television and Radio
Broadcasting System, as saying. "Lukashenka is flexing his ideological
muscles on the eve of his meeting with Putin [on 14 August],"
Belarusian Association of Journalists Chairwoman Zhana Litvina told AP.
Belarusian television reported late on 13 August that the broadcasting
of Russian radio and television networks in Belarus has been fully
restored. JM

The Prosecutor-General's Office on 13 August interrogated journalist
Iryna Khalip in connection with an article she published last week in
the "Belorusskaya delovaya gazeta" supplement "Dlya sluzhebnogo
polzovaniya" (For Official Use), RFE/RL's Belarusian Service reported.
Referring to an audio recording made by the KGB, Khalip alleged that
Prosecutor-General Viktar Sheyman may have accepted a bribe for closing
a criminal investigation. "I think I hit the bull's-eye with my
article," Khalip told RFE/RL. "Sheyman's position is insecure now.
Society has already learned a lot about Sheyman's role in different
cases. And here is a new case involving him in criminal business....
Now Sheyman simply wants to know whether I know more and intend to go
on with this topic," Khalip added. JM

Leonid Kuchma has signed a decree obliging the government to increase
by "nearly twofold," budget allocations for the armed forces in 2003
compared with those in 2002, UNIAN reported on 13 August, quoting
presidential spokeswoman Olena Hromnytska. JM

President Kuchma appointed Colonel General Oleksandr Zatynayko as chief
of General Staff of the Ukrainian armed forces, UNIAN reported the same
day. Kuchma fired the previous chief of the General Staff, Petro
Shulyak, following the tragic air crash in Lviv on 27 July (see "RFE/RL
Newsline," 29 July 2002). JM

National Defense and Security Council Secretary Yevhen Marchuk, who
heads the commission investigating the jet crash in Lviv on 27 July,
told journalists on 13 August that flight commanders did not give
pilots adequate instructions for maneuvers that led to the deaths of 85
spectators, AP reported. Marchuk said the two pilots trained for three
days prior to the show, but flight commanders and the show's organizers
did not conduct a rehearsal of the event. Marchuk added that commanders
failed to call off the performance after the pilots deviated from the
flight plan on their first pass. Marchuk also rejected pilot Volodymyr
Toponar's claim that technical failures caused him to lose control of
the Su-27 jet seconds before the crash. JM

Representative Elton Gallegly (Republican, California), the chairman of
the House of Representatives' Subcommittee on Europe of the Committee
on International Relations, told Prime Minister Andris Berzins in Riga
on 13 August that Latvia will be at the top of the list of countries
expected to receive invitations to join NATO in Prague in November,
LETA reported. Gallegly said the expansion of NATO would promote
stability in Europe. Gallegly noted that the achievements of Latvian
divers and field engineers suggest that these fields could be the
country's specialization in NATO. The congressman also discussed
integration and naturalization processes in Latvia with Justice
Ministry officials and inquired about the competition for the head of
the Corruption Prevention Bureau, stressing the importance of fighting
corruption. Gallegly completed his three-day trip to Latvia on 13
August and traveled on to Tallinn. SG

Relying on the results of a special commission investigation, Romualdas
Dobrovolskis fired the head of the State Medicine Control Service
(VVKT), Vytautas Budnikas, on 13 August for violating the law on public
and private interests, ELTA reported. The dismissal was not unexpected
as President Valdas Adamkus expressed his lack of confidence in
Budnikas several weeks ago and Budnikas did not help his case by making
false statements about his vacation. Although the commission did not
confirm that he had met secretly with Russian pharmaceuticals magnate
Vladimir Bryntsalov, it concluded that his vacations in Norway and
Astrakhan appeared to have been partially financed by foreign
pharmaceutical companies. In addition, the commission determined that
he had illegally used a state car and driver to return to Vilnius from
Riga, to which he had flown from Russia, allegedly in an attempt to
evade journalists. Budnikas said that he will regain his job through
court proceedings. SG

The government on 13 August adopted a package of bills relating to
Finance Minister Grzegorz Kolodko's anti-crisis program (see "RFE/RL
Poland, Belarus, and Ukraine Report," 30 July 2002), Polish television
reported. The package provides opportunities for state assistance to
companies facing bankruptcy. Enterprises employing over 1,000 people
and "of particular importance to the economy" can count on state help
after they prepare a revitalization program; the implementation of the
revitalization program is to take place under the supervision of a
court and with the cooperation of creditors. The government also
endorsed changes in the bankruptcy law that has been in force for 70
years. Under these changes, a firm declared bankrupt will not be able
to sell off its assets in order to pay off its obligations. "The
bankruptcy law is revolutionary, since it surrenders the bankruptcy
procedure to the audit of creditors and not to the commissioner for
bankruptcy, who [has always] sought the sale of the company assets. In
this way, an opportunity is given for the cleansing and reconstruction
of the enterprise, and under the supervision of the creditors," Polish
television quoted an unidentified government official as saying. JM

During his ninth trip to the homeland on 16-19 August, Pope John Paul
II will meet leading Polish statesmen and politicians, including
President Aleksander Kwasniewski, Prime Minister Leszek Miller, and
several government ministers, PAP reported on 13 August. On 17 August,
the pope will hold private talks with Kwasniewski and Miller and
receive also the president's wife, Jolanta Kwasniewska, Deputy Prime
Ministers Jaroslaw Kalinowski and Marek Pol, Foreign Minister
Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz, and Interior Minister Krzysztof Janik. On 19
August, the pope will serve Mass on the outskirts of Krakow in the
presence of President Kwasniewski as well as the presidents of
Lithuania and Slovakia, Valdas Adamkus and Rudolf Schuster,
respectively. JM

According to a poll conducted by OBOP on 3-5 August among 956 adult
Poles, the ruling Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) would win local
elections with 31 percent of the vote, PAP reported. The SLD was
followed by Law and Justice (15 percent), Self-Defense (15 percent),
Civic Platform (12 percent), the League of Polish Families (11
percent), and the Peasant Party (9 percent). Poland will hold local
elections this fall, but the date of the ballot has not been set. An
amended local-election law calls for city mayors and commune heads to
be elected by direct ballot along with local councilors. JM

[37] PRAGUE'S 'FLOOD OF CENTURY' SAID TO BE WORST IN CITY'S HISTORY...

Water levels continued to rise in Prague on 14 August as Mayor Igor
Nemec reported that the flow of the Vltava River through the capital
could no longer be gauged, having exceeded the measurable limit of
5,000 cubic meters per second, CTK reported. During a flood in 1890,
the rate reached 3,700 cubic meters per second and was considered the
highest in the city's history. Experts also revised their forecast of
when levels in the city will peak, predicting on Czech Television that
the river will continue a gradual rise into the evening of 14 August.
The city began the evacuation of additional downtown areas, such as the
historic Jewish Quarter and streets around Old Town Square, in the
early hours of 14 August. Low-lying sections of the city are inundated
and metro lines are operating only outside the city center, while all
but one bridge over the Vltava are closed to private vehicles. Gas and
electricity supplies have also been shut off to sections of the city as
both major distributors declared a state of emergency in some areas.
City police have refuted media reports of significant looting in areas
already evacuated or swamped, according to CTK. So far, more than
50,000 have been evacuated from their homes in Prague. MS/AH

Interior Minister Stanislav Gross said on 13 August that some 200,000
people have been evacuated throughout the country, making the
evacuation the largest since World War II, CTK and international news
agencies reported. Nine deaths have been reported in the two weeks
since the flooding began, including two victims on 13 August, Czech
media reported on 14 August. Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla on 14
August commended the country's emergency response, saying: "Few people
realize just how little loss of life [there has been] and how few
injured people there have been.... What it means is that decisions were
made in time on evacuations." Damages are estimated so far at some $2
billion, but Spidla said after a cabinet meeting on 13 August that the
extent of damages will only become known some 14 days after the waters
have receded. Spidla announced that the government approved the state
of emergency he declared one day earlier in six of the country's
regions and announced that 380 million crowns (nearly $11.9 million)
was released for immediate aid. He said the parliamentary Budget
Committee will approve an additional 1.15 billion crowns by the end of
the week. MS/AH

Some 4,000 policemen, 9,000 firemen, and 2,000 soldiers are battling
the effects of flooding in the Czech Republic, particularly in the
western part of the country, a government spokeswoman told CTK on 14
August. The hardest-hit major cities include Ceske Budejovice and
Plzen, while scores of smaller towns and villages have been devastated.
Some 30 bridges have been swept away, according to the daily
"Hospodarske noviny." Foreign Minister Cyril Svoboda added that offers
of technical and financial assistance have come in from Sweden, Poland,
France, the United States, Norway, Japan, Switzerland, Greece, Italy,
and other countries as well as NATO and the EU, according to CTK the
same day. The country will accept offers of assistance from abroad,
Svoboda added, stressing that Czechs particularly need medicines,
vaccines, and drying devices. President Vaclav Havel cut short a
vacation in Portugal and was expected to arrive in Prague in the
afternoon of 14 August and meet with Prime Minister Spidla. MS/AH

[40] INVESTIGATION OF FORMER CZECH FOREIGN MINISTRY OFFICIAL ON HOLD
DUE TO FLOODING

Investigators from the special police squad conducting an investigation
into charges of corruption and serious economic crimes against Karel
Srba had to postpone questioning of witnesses because of the floods,
the daily "Pravo," cited by CTK, reported on 14 August. A police
official said the offices where the investigation is being conducted
had to be evacuated due to the floods. Srba is also under investigation
on suspicion of having commissioned the attempt to murder journalist
Sabina Slonkova and for the illegal possession of firearms. One of
Srba's lawyers told "Pravo" that two executives from the Certos
company, who have been charged with bribing Srba and who are not in
custody during the investigation, informed the authorities they will
not be able to attend the investigation due to the floods. Another Srba
lawyer told the paper that one of the two Certos officials, Jiri Sitar,
has admitted that 5.5 million crowns ($172,160) of the 30 million
crowns confiscated by police during a search of Srba's house is his
money. Sitar reportedly said he "just kept it there." MS

President Rudolf Schuster on 13 August phoned Czech President Havel,
pledging any aid Slovakia can offer to the neighboring country. Prime
Minister Mikulas Dzurinda confirmed his country's readiness to help,
saying Slovakia is merely waiting for the Czech Republic to specify its
needs. Dzurinda said the offer is also valid for neighboring Austria.
MS

Authorities in Bratislava declared a state of emergency in the early
hours of 14 August as the bloated Danube River threatened the Slovak
capital, CTK reported the same day. Barriers were being erected on the
riverbanks as the waters rose to 8.5 meters overnight. Experts forecast
that levels will peak on the morning of 15 August. There is a ban on
navigation of the Danube in Bratislava, and a handful of foreign
vessels have had to anchor there. President Schuster and parliamentary
Chairman Jozef Migas returned to the capital from eastern Slovakia,
where flooding has wrought havoc in particular in the area around
Poprad. The government was expected to meet on 14 August to address the
crisis. AH

Parliamentary speaker Jozef Migas told journalists on 13 August that
the biggest problem of the outgoing parliament has been "party
atomization," TASR reported. Migas said the process started when Prime
Minister Dzurinda split the Slovak Democratic Coalition to form his own
party and continued with several other major splits, among them those
of the Slovak National Party and the recent split of the Movement for a
Democratic Slovakia. Migas said that apart from these negative
developments, the outgoing parliament also registered some successes --
the wall-to-wall party support for Slovakia's integration into the EU
and NATO and the passage of 540 laws paramount among them. MS

Prime Minister Dzurinda said on 13 August that both parliamentary and
extraparliamentary opposition parties are basing their election
campaigns on attacking the government's policy and called these
policies "shortsighted," TASR reported. Dzurinda told journalists in
Bratislava that "Smer Chairman Robert Fico attacks us from the left and
Alliance of New Citizens [ANO] Chairman Pavol Rusko from the right, and
both describe the country as devastated, as if the legacy of the
current government is similar to the former cabinet's legacy." He
predicted that Fico will become a victim of his own "statements and
billboards" and Rusko that of "his own manipulations and promises." MS

Imre Mecs, who heads the commission investigating the links of
post-1989 cabinet members with the communist-era secret services, said
on 13 August that the commission found that 10 ministers had such
links, Hungarian media reported. Mecs revealed that five of them served
in the 1990-94 cabinet headed by Jozsef Antall and then -- after
Antall's death -- by Peter Boross. Two served in the government headed
by Gyula Horn between 1994-98, and four were members of the 1998-2002
government headed by Viktor Orban. One current government member --
presumably Prime Minister Peter Medgyessy himself -- had links with the
communist services. He added that two of these ministers have served in
more than one post-1989 cabinet. Mecs said he consulted with a number
of experts and concluded that the commission is justified in its
decision to release the names of those involved, since the information
is "in the public's interest." MS

Karoly Toth, a Socialist member of the Mecs commission, said on 13
August that the commission will release the names of the ministers,
even if those affected do not give their consent, Hungarian media
reported. Regarding the opposition members' decision to withdraw from
the commission, Toth said that parliamentary regulations stipulate that
commission members cannot do so unless they renounce their membership
in parliament. If the opposition continues to boycott the commission's
sessions, Toth said, the commission will not be able to vote on a
decision, but this will not prevent it from releasing its findings to
the media. MS

[47] ...AND FORMER PREMIERS CONSENT TO PUBLICATION OF FINDINGS ON
THEMSELVES

Former prime ministers Boross and Orban announced on 13 August that
they are willing to authorize the Mecs commission to release its
findings on them, Hungarian media reported. Orban added that he cannot
speak on behalf of his former cabinet colleagues, and they will have to
decide for themselves if they want the information released. MS

Csaba Hende, who is former Prime Minister Orban's chief of staff, said
on 13 August that civic (polgari) groups identifying themselves with
the right are planning large-scale demonstrations in defense of freedom
of the press on 30 August, "Nepszabadsag" reported. Hende said the
protests aim to bring about the dismissal of Hungarian Television (MTV)
Deputy Chairman Imre Ragats and to reinstate dismissed MTV journalists.
He said other protest rallies are also planned, but refused to give
details. Istvan Wisinger, head of the largest Hungarian journalists'
association, MUOSZ, said in response that he is surprised by the
"sudden and passionate interest" in press freedom displayed by FIDESZ
supporters. Wisinger pointed out that when Orban was prime minister, he
said nothing in reaction to the International Federation of
Journalists' negative evaluation of Hungarian media freedom at MTV that
was issued in 2001. Orban also did not react to later criticism by an
international monitoring commission that noted MTV's clear pro-FIDESZ
bias during the 2002 parliamentary elections, Wisinger said. MS

On the first anniversary of the 13 August 2001 Ohrid peace agreement,
most ethnic Macedonian politicians said that they consider the accord a
necessary evil to end the violence, "Utrinski vesnik" reported. Vlatko
Gjorcev, the spokesman of the ruling nationalist Internal Macedonian
Revolutionary Organization (VMRO-DPMNE), said that the peace agreement
led to a certain stabilization of the country. He added, however, that
peace is constantly threatened by "Albanian extremism and daily attacks
by terrorist groups." Jani Makraduli of the Social Democratic Union of
Macedonia (SDSM) stressed that the peace agreement was a compromise,
and as such it is not ideal. "For us, it is important that the
political will exists to live together in Macedonia. [If that holds
true,] the [Ohrid] agreement will be enough," Makraduli said. Some
representatives of smaller parties -- such as Pavle Trajanov of the
Democratic Union -- called for the agreement and subsequent
constitutional changes to be revised. UB

Judging from statements cited by the Skopje daily "Utrinski vesnik" on
14 August, ethnic Albanian politicians believe that the peace agreement
is the basis for further democratization. Zahir Bekteshi of the Party
for Democratic Prosperity (PPD) said there is no room for complacency,
even if parliament has passed a large number of laws as a result of the
agreement. Unnamed sources of the Democratic Party of the Albanians
(PDSH) stress that the agreement is only a start and that the next
steps will be difficult. Ali Ahmeti, chairman of the Democratic Union
for Integration (BDI) and former political leader of the National
Liberation Army (UCK), said in Tetovo that "today is a special day
because it is the anniversary of...the Ohrid peace agreement, which is
a result of our legitimate struggle." Ahmeti added that his party will
fight for a democracy based on consensus. UB

Thousands of ethnic Albanians demonstrated in Podujeva on 13 August to
protest the recent arrest of local wartime leader Rustem Mustafa,
better known as Remi, by KFOR peacekeepers, AP reported (see "RFE/RL
Newsline," 12 and 13 August 2002). The demonstrators dispersed
peacefully after about one hour. In Prishtina, an international judge
ordered that Remi be detained for at least 30 days while the case is
investigated. In related news, Kosovar politician Ramush Haradinaj said
in Prishtina that the recent charges filed against him are unfounded,
RFE/RL's South Slavic and Albanian Languages Service reported (see
"RFE/RL Newsline," 13 August 2002). Susan Manuel, who is spokeswoman
for the UN civilian authority in Kosova (UNMIK), said that the charges
are well founded. Finally, Deutsche Welle's Bosnian Service reported on
14 August that KFOR has recently arrested a total of 21 individuals in
a series of sweeps, including 13 individuals charged with being "armed
extremists." PM

At least five Slovenian fishing boats accompanied by a police patrol
boat entered disputed waters between Croatia and Slovenia in the Bay of
Piran on 13 August, RFE/RL's South Slavic and Albanian Languages
Service reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 12 August 2002). Slovenian
sources said that an unspecified incident resulted when Croatian police
appeared on the scene. The Slovenian craft subsequently withdrew. The
Croatian Foreign Ministry sent the Slovenian Embassy in Zagreb what the
ministry described as a "strong protest" over the latest in what it
called a series of incidents in which Slovenian craft violate the
maritime border in the Bay of Piran. Foreign Minister Tonino Picula
said nonetheless that Croatia will do its best to prevent an escalation
of tensions and hopes that Slovenia will do the same. On 14 August, a
joint commission on local border traffic met in Mokrice Castle in
Slovenia, Hina reported. PM

Picula said in Pula that Croatia has received a U.S. request calling
for a bilateral agreement pledging not to turn U.S. citizens over to
the new International Criminal Court (ICC), "Vjesnik" reported on 14
August. He added, however, that Zagreb will most likely turn down the
proposal on the grounds that it sends its own citizens to The Hague and
cannot be expected to give foreigners more privileged treatment. PM

Beriz Belkic, who heads the rotating joint presidency, denied recent
media reports suggesting that Washington has threatened to bar
Sarajevo's membership in NATO's Partnership for Peace program if Bosnia
does not sign a bilateral agreement, "Dnevni avaz" reported on 14
August. Belkic stressed that the United States "fully understands"
Bosnia's position and has not applied pressure (see "RFE/RL Newsline,"
13 August 2002). PM

Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica's Democratic Party of Serbia
(DSS) said in a statement in Belgrade on 13 August that the recent
failure of a joint Serbian and Montenegrin commission to agree on a
Constitutional Charter shows that the two leaderships do not really
want a joint state, RFE/RL's South Slavic and Albanian Languages
Service reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 13 August 2002). The statement
added that those two leaderships pay lip service to the idea of a joint
state but work in practice to destroy it. The Podgorica daily "Vijesti"
reported on 14 August that Kostunica wants the joint commission to
continue its work on the Constitutional Charter, but that Montenegrin
President Milo Djukanovic wants matters handled through direct talks
between the Serbian and Montenegrin governments. PM

Serbian Radical Party leader Vojislav Seselj hailed the recent proposal
by former President Slobodan Milosevic that Seselj be the joint
candidate of the opposition in the 29 September Serbian presidential
vote, Deutsche Welle's Bosnian Service reported from Belgrade on 14
August (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 13 August 2002). But the Belgrade daily
"Danas" noted that the leadership of Milosevic's Socialist Party of
Serbia (SPS) is unhappy with their chief's recommendation. The SPS
leadership is considering nominating Milutin Mrkonjic or Velimir Bata
Zivojinovic instead of endorsing Seselj. The daily "Politika," which is
close to Kostunica, wrote that it is strange that the supposedly
leftist Milosevic has endorsed the leader of the far right for the
highest office in Serbia. The editorial asked: "If Milosevic represents
the past, does that mean that Seselj represents the future?" PM

Foreign Minister Mircea Geoana on 13 August said Democratic Party
Chairman Traian Basescu was "tempted by uninspired politicking" when he
came to Geoana's defense against Prime Minister Adrian Nastase and
former foreign ministers Petre Roman and Teodor Melescanu, RFE/RL's
Bucharest bureau reported. Basescu the previous day praised Geoana for
promoting an accord between Romania and the United States on the
non-extradition of U.S. citizens to the International Criminal Court
and said it was to be deplored that three former foreign ministers --
Nastase has also held that portfolio -- are incapable of overcoming
their personal antipathies toward Geoana and placing the national
interest at the top of their priorities. In a press release, Geoana
said in response that the decision on the accord was not his own, as
Basescu claims, but that of the governmental team as a whole. Geoana
denied any friction between himself and the prime minister. Basescu
responded by saying he had backed not Geoana personally, but Romania's
national interest in order not to jeopardize the country's NATO bid. He
added that Geoana's reaction is an illustration of the foreign
minister's "excessive servility" toward Nastase. MS

Three people were killed and more than a dozen hospitalized in eastern
Romania after a brief and violent storm, AP reported. A woman and her
17-month-old child were killed on 12 August when their house collapsed
under the force of winds gusting up to 100 kilometers an hour in the
village of Facaeni, some 190 kilometers east of Bucharest. On the same
day, a driver was killed in a storm in the nearby town of Fetesti. MS

President Vladimir Voronin on 13 August invited separatist leader Igor
Smirnov and the mediators in the Transdniester conflict -- Russia,
Ukraine, and the OSCE -- to a "marathon summit" in Chisinau on 15
August, AP reported. A Flux report from Chisinau said that Voronin's
initiative envisages negotiations until an accord is reached on a
"final version" of an OSCE plan that provides for Moldova's
federalization. Voronin said the plan should be the only point on the
summit's agenda. The initiative was endorsed by Prime Minister Vasile
Tarlev, according to the AP report. Matti Sidoroff, OSCE mission
spokesman, saluted the initiative but said that he believes the
proposed summit cannot take place on 15 August, as OSCE mission chief
David Schwartz will return to Chisinau only on the evening of 15
August. MS

Russian investment in Moldova has increased since Voronin took office
in April 2001, according to Russian Ambassador to Chisinau Pavel
Petrovskii. In an interview with the governmental Russian-language
publication "Nezavisimaya Moldova" that was cited by ITAR-TASS on 13
August, Petrovskii said the signing of the basic treaty between the two
countries in May has made Russian business confident of the stability
of ties and the prospects offered by the Moldovan market. Petrovskii
said that the improvement in relations "does not alienate Moldova from
Europe, as some Moldovan leaders claim." Quite the opposite, he said,
the good relations contribute to the improvement of Moldova's image in
Europe, because "Russia itself is moving toward Europe faster than some
other CIS members." MS

In response to the European Commission's recommendation that Bulgaria
not sign a bilateral treaty with the United States by which Bulgaria
would agree not to extradite U.S. citizens to the International
Criminal Court, Deputy Foreign Minister Petko Draganov on 13 August
left for Copenhagen to hold bilateral talks with representatives of the
Danish government, BTA reported. Denmark currently holds the rotating
EU Presidency. Meanwhile, U.S. Ambassador to Bulgaria James Pardew told
journalists in the southern Bulgarian town of Haskovo the same day that
Bulgaria will face no negative consequences regardless of the decision
it makes on signing the treaty, mediapool.bg reported. Bulgarian media
reported that the government has yet to formulate its own position on
the question, as it faces the dilemma of either endangering its NATO
membership if it refuses the U.S. proposal or it hoped-for EU
membership if it signs the agreement. UB

Speaking at a meeting of business representatives on 13 August,
Bulgarian Industrial Association Chairman Bozhidar Danev said that the
Bulgarian foreign-trade balance is deteriorating, BTA reported. This
year's trade deficit is already some $600 million and will probably
reach $1.1 billion by the end of the year, Danev said. The rising
foreign deficit is due to falling exports to the European Union and
Russia as well as increased imports from those areas. The Industrial
Association and the Foreign Ministry will hold a roundtable discussion
in September pertaining to requirements for trade with the EU, as the
EU is to introduce a number of new regulations that will directly or
indirectly affect Bulgarian exports. UB

One of the bidders for the state tobacco company Bulgartabac, the
Metatabak Consortium, announced on 13 August its withdrawal from the
tender, BTA reported. Metatabak lawyer Georgi Tasev and consortium
partner Garegin Gevondian of the Russia-based Soyuzkontrakt Tabak told
a joint news conference that there were formal and legal violations
during the competitive bidding procedure and that the bidder Tobacco
Capital Partners is receiving preferential treatment. "The prime
minister's statement on [9 August] was the last straw. In his
convoluted parlance, he made it clear that the matter is decided in
favor of Tobacco Capital Partners.... After [this] statement, on [11
August] we made a decision to withdraw from this dirty game," Gevondian
said. UB